I’ve always found unlikely that, as reported in The Book of D’ni, there was almost no opposition among the D’ni survivors about resettling on Rehleeshahn. Consider the perspective of a conservative D’ni: a woman from the Surface shows up in D’ni, learns the language, marry a high-ranking member of the Guild of Surveyors, and a few years later the Cavern is rendered uninhabitable as a consequence of a conspiracy that, in some way, is related to that outsider.

Then, a few more years later, some unknown guy shows up, offering a new home for the D’ni; he turns out to be the grandson of that very outsider, that he has also married an outsider (an Age dweller, too), has imprisoned his own father who was just trying to make D’ni great again, had in turn being imprisoned by his degenerate sons (a clear example of what happens when D’ni and outsiders mix), has been doing unsanctioned experiments with the Art. Later, it turns out that his crazy daughter also has been experimenting with the Art and sided with the bahro slaves (which, before the Fall, would have made her an Enemy of the Empire).

So, it seems more likely to me that those D’ni who followed Atrus were one group, while other D’ni took refuge somewhere else. Here comes the wild speculation: given the great attention that the pod Age was getting before tha Fall, it could be that it was being considered for a possible colony, in case something happened to the Cavern (as it did). We don’t see settlements, because the pods we have access to are the discarded ones, used for the early surveys. Any linking book to the actual settlement would’ve been removed or destroyed before abandoning the Cavern: note how none of the available pods are close to Rigilas, Hayvuh or the north of Payiferen or Cheecho.

Hmm, good point. Personally I just accepted it as it was written because "Atrus is the good guy" and stuff. But I wouldn't mind the story to have a bit more depth in that area.

On the one hand, Atrus looks and behaves a lot like a true D'ni would (sensitivity to sunlight, not being a savage like most D'ni would expect outsiders to be, etc). And from the BoD, the survivors were open-minded enough that they didn't mind working with the Averonese to rebuild D'ni.On the other hand, the D'ni society was quite xenophobic**, and not all social classes had equal means to escape the Fall. This may factor in how racist the survivors were...Hard to tell, though, as D'nis don't think or behave like humans, and civilizations can change radically in times of crisis.In any case, it's extremely likely at least some people didn't like Atrus being in command, and decided to not help with the D'ni restoration and later migration to Releeshahn. It's comparable to how Garternay people fled to both D'ni and Tehranee (and several smaller Ages, probably)...

** Well, D'ni is sometime described as xenophobic in the DRC translations, but in truth it sounds just like any normal European or American country IMO... Suspicion of strangers and a few extremist groups isn't anything new by human standards - hence why a few people might mistrust Atrus. But anyway...

Regarding the Pods, IMHO the Age feels more like an experiment to study the Art than a possible settlement. What little we can see seems a bit too inhospitable to be lived in, and the DRC said nothing about it being inhabited at any point.But then, who knows. As you said, Links to the hospitable locations might have been hidden, leaving only Links to the equivalent of Sahara, Antarctic, etcetera.Plus, as said in the other topic (link for future readers), writing a Link to each pod required traveling to it beforehand, which can be hazardous and thus requires a lot of effort, time and money. This means the D'ni were really serious about this Age, and spent quite a lot of time in it.And finally, D'ni days last 30 Earth hours. In this Age, a day is roughly 15 hours. A D'ni's asleep/awake cycle wouldn't be perturbed if he slept every two "days". Still not optimal, but I think for them it might be easier to adapt to than say a 24 hours day.

That's a really interesting idea, and would certainly give the Myst story legs if Cyan wanted to continue it post Atrus (although, honestly, I think the whole Uru thing needs a "reboot).

It would make sense that some D'ni wouldn't want to follow Atrus, and I'm surprised some didn't want to stay behind and actually rebuild D'ni in the Cavern. Surely there would be those fierce patriots (not sure if that's the right word) that would want to "make D'ni great again"

We know Esher took off, so surely other did. Perhaps this is where Book of Marium would have gone?